Learn My Purpose

Welcome! Explore this area to access resources including Pastor Rick Warren’s Daily Hope free email devotional, 42 audio messages for you to learn your purpose, and leadership courses that will take you deeper into a purpose driven life.

On Easter Sunday, 2005, over 10,000 people gathered in Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California to celebrate Saddleback Church’s 25th Anniversary. Listen to pastor Rick as he casts the vision for local and global PEACE and challenges us to reach every nation for Christ.

Have you ever looked at yourself and wished you had been born differently? You are not an accident! Join Pastor Rick as he delves into scripture to show us how God made us to be uniquely shaped for His glory.

MINISTRY IDEAS & OPPORTUNITIES

At Saddleback Church

Exercise: Celebrate! Spend time in your group affirming each others greatest gifts. Then pray for each other.

Exercise: Better Together:: Write down on a sheet of paper all of the items it takes to make the group function on a weekly basis. The coordination, the calling, the teaching, etc. Then ask everyone to take one of the functions for the next 90 days so everyone has a little more ownership within the group.

Project: ask each person in your group to share one person they know of who could use a little help in life. Then pray for each person and decide as a group 1-2 of the people to bless with practical acts of love.

Project: Identify the people you will be inviting to Easter this year as a group then start to pray for each person by name. In addition, think of one simple act of love you could offer to this person over the next 30 days to show God’s love in action.

In Your Community

Exercise: Celebrate! Spend time in your group affirming each other’s greatest gifts. Then pray for each other.

Exercise: Better Together! Write down on a sheet of paper all of the items it takes to make the group function on a weekly basis. The coordination, the calling, the teaching, etc. Then ask everyone to take one of the functions for the next 90 days so everyone has a little more ownership within the group.

Project: contact your church and see how your group could help serve as a team over the next 30 days.

Project: ask each person in your group to share one person they know of who could use a little help in life. Then pray for each person and decide as a group 1-2 of the people to bless with practical acts of love.

“Give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1
Thessalonians 5:18 NIV)

In the U.S.,
we celebrate a day of thanksgiving once a year. But God wants us to be
intentional about our thankfulness every day. He wants us to develop this
spiritual habit, one that is reflected in the life of a radical believer. The truth
is, the more deeply you understand God’s love, the more grateful you’re going
to be.

So what does
it mean to be radically grateful?

The Bible
says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give
thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (NIV).
That’s radical gratitude. In all
circumstances give thanks, because it’s God’s will for you.

You can thank
God in every circumstance because God is in control. He can bring good out of
evil. He can turn around the stupid mistakes you’ve made. No matter what
happens, God isn’t going to stop loving you. There are a hundred things to be
thankful for in any circumstance, even when the circumstance stinks.

Radical
gratitude — being thankful in all circumstances — is God’s will because it
creates fellowship.

What do I
mean by that? Gratitude always builds deeper relationships between you and
other people and between you and God.

Whoever you
want to get closer to, start expressing gratitude to that person. If you’ve
moved away from your husband or your wife, you need to start doing what you did
when you were dating: Express gratitude. Write little notes of kindness and
encouragement. Make calls or text during the day, just to tell him or her that
you’re thankful. Do the things you did at first. The reason you’ve lost that
lovin’ feeling is because you stopped doing the things that created that lovin’
feeling early on, and you take each other for granted.

Do you want
to build your small group? Don’t just go to small group. During the week, text
them, email them, call them, write them. Say, “I’m grateful for you, and here’s
why.” You’ll find that the more grateful you are for your group, the more your
group will bond.

The Bible
tells us to “encourage one another and
build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). As you build others up, you’ll
find that God builds into your life as well through your deep relationships
with him and others.

Talk It Over

Who do you
need to encourage or connect with this week? To whom do you need to show your
gratitude?

What are some
simple ways you can express your gratitude to your spouse, friend, or small
group members?

As you develop an attitude of gratitude, what changes do you think you
will see in yourself and your relationships?